Wild boar hunting in Maremma: Viva Maria! The liberating cry "Viva Maria" greets the glorious end of a real "battle" between the wild boar, the dogs, the canai, and the postmen. But mind you, it is not always the team of hunters that wins, the black beast moves in its environment: the Mediterranean scrub. In those places he is the undisputed lord and knows all the tricks and all the ways to avoid ending up in the pan. So for a "viva Maria" many, too many times, it is the typical curse that echoes through those woods.
Di Federico Cusimano
It is the sound of the horns that breaks the delay ...
The sound of the horns marks all the phases of the Cacciarella, in many Maremma villages where the tradition of wild boar hunting is still alive and in excellent health, in spite of telephones, mobile phones, e-mails and any other technological devilry it is the horns that announces the bar of the next day the night before.
Through the alleys and streets up to the town square the sound of the hunting horn warns everyone unequivocally that the next morning there is a cacciarella. Everyone knows it, everyone has been warned and those who miss an appointment have no excuses! The next morning the feverish operations that serve as a prelude to the real hunt begin early: coffee, homemade biscuits, strictly sheep's milk ricotta, homemade bread cut into slices and so on.
After breakfast, the expulsion strategy is established. The hunting chief consults for the last time with the trackers, who have already patrolled the hunting areas from the first light of dawn, with the canai and finally decides the order of the release of the bracche. He gives the latest provisions to everyone; sometimes one or two bracche are put back up and therefore they will not be dissolved immediately but only at a certain point of the expulsion. Then comes the time to assign the stakes, some teams decide by chance, while in others it is the hunting chief who assigns the stakes according to his own criteria which should, at least according to him, guarantee the best result of the serve. In any case, at this point everything is ready for the real hunt, the postatoli walk towards the posts that can be placed on the ground or on specially built wooden boxes. I would like to say just a few words on the opportunity to shoot from a position raised above the ground as a box can be. Some turn up their noses believing that it is a luxury intended for the "gentlemen" and that real hunting is done from the ground. I personally believe these considerations are very wrong, having always hunted both from the box and from the ground I can confidently say that it is only a question of safety. Shooting from a raised platform with respect to the ground offers better protection for everyone, the shot will undoubtedly have a direction from top to bottom, thus tending to make the ball stick to the ground if the target is missed, also the propensity to rebound with such a trajectory it should be less. Obviously this is for the benefit of all participants in the hunt, including dogs.
Once all the participants have taken their seats, the hunting chief carries out a quick check, today more and more via radio transceiver, and ascertained that: the trunks that surround and divide the place intended for the hunt are all armed, the stations are in their place , the braziers have reached the places of free and the possible hitters are also ready, finally starts the joke by playing the horns loudly so that everyone can hear that the "dances" have opened. I use this expression, I think, in an appropriate way because to be able to dance you need music and this for a wild boar hunter is provided by the dogs that fill the woods with their voices. At the beginning of this season a dear friend of mine brazier told me with a serious and serious expression: “this year with the dogs we have we don't have to pay the card to the hunting associations, we will have to pay the SIAE”.
… In the end it is time for the shot
Before concluding this small and obviously partial description of this fascinating form of boar hunting, I would like to spend only a few lines to talk about weapons and ammunition that are used in hunting. Only a few years ago discussing this topic was completely superfluous, we all hunted with our 12-gauge shotguns. It was not uncommon to hear that someone even loaded buckshot cartridges (among other things prohibited by law), in short, the topic of weapons and ammunition soon ran out. Fortunately, times have changed and today there is a greater awareness of which is the best weapon to practice this hunt.
The 12 gauge, alas, far from having disappeared from the Cacciarelle, however, begins to be seen less. The very dangerous buckshot, thank God, at least in Maremma can be considered almost extinct. For about ten years now, rifles have become the protagonists of this hunt. In two words, I would summarize the reason for this success: efficacy and safety. I recognize that there are still a number of admirers of the old 12 who claim that "short" this caliber offers more guarantees and in any case no extra expense is necessary as every hunter owns a 12 caliber. However it is indisputable that the Rifles offer much greater guarantees on both the aforementioned fronts. As far as effectiveness is concerned, it is now known that it is the greater speed of the ball that produces a faster death to the wild due to the hydrodynamic shock caused by the shock wave of the bullet. Without wishing to go into technical questions here, it can be said that even from an "ethical" point of view it is more appropriate to finish the animal as quickly and cleanly as possible. From a safety point of view it has been proven that bullets fired from a rifled rifle certainly have a lower propensity to bounce than 12 or 20 caliber bullets do. The high speed at which they travel means that, lacking the target, if they hit a hard surface such as a rock they tend to pulverize, if instead they encounter a softer surface such as a tree trunk they stick into it. Therefore, having overcome the cultural gap that sees a greater danger in the rifled weapon, due to the greater range, I personally have no doubts about preferring them. The calibers most used by wild boar hunters are: the .30-06 Spring., The .308 Winch., The .300 Win Mag and the 9,3 × 62 chambered in semi-automatic rifles; the 8 × 57 jsr, the 444 Marlin and the 9,3x74R chambered in express type rifles.
But now a canizza starts, one of the powerful ones, the guns are squeezed in the hands, the hounds begin to urge the dogs loudly, the wild boar runs away quickly, then stops, you hear the dogs bark at it at a stop, a dog whines and the post next to mine mimics me that it must have hurt him, with a nod of understanding we tell each other that it must be a big boar, the tension rises, the braziers move towards the point where the boar has stopped, they try to get it started again. After a few seconds the canizza starts up again, it has moved: it comes up towards the post office, everyone is attentive, concentrated, ready. We shoot back and forth, never from the side, safety is the first thing and each of us is aware of it, the canes now and portentous and close, I feel my heart starting to beat madly, the muscles tense like a rope violin are ready to shoot. Then a shot, strong and clear two placed under mine, but the continuous canizza did not hit him ... here he is, he is really a big beast but I have the line of fire occupied by a dog. I raise the rifle hoping to have the chance to shoot but nothing covers me by not giving me the opportunity. I just have time to turn to the post office next to mine and I see Valerio take up his rifle: he fires two shots in rapid sequence, the canizza goes out, the animal has been taken ... Long live Maria!